PHYLOGENY AND TAXONOMY OF BOVINES

Ungulates are the hooved animals. This subclass is divided into orders Perissodactyla (odd-toed) and Artiodactyla (even-toed). The former includes horses, tapirs, and rhinoceros, while the latter includes camels, pigs, deer, musk deer, chevrotains, giraffes, cattle, antelopes, sheep, and goats. Bovidae is the most important family in Artiodactyla, having about 128 species in about 45 genera. It includes many domesticated forms (cattle, sheep, and goats). The tribe Bovini or cattle, has 3 genera and 12 species. The term cattle derives from the Middle English and Old Northern French catel. Systematics authorities used herein were Nowak and Paradise (1983) and Graves (1981).

Auroch or Uru

Urus was the Latin name for the wild cattle of Europe; in German they were aurochs. These became extinct when the last aurochs cow was killed in Poland in 1627. Aurochs (Bos taurus) gave rise to what is commonly called cattle. B. taurus originated in Asia, from whence it spread over its range during the Pleistocene Period, beginning about 600,000 years ago (Epstein and Manson 1984).
Taxonomically, domestic cattle were separated into Bos indicus and Bos taurus by Linnaeus. There is, however, no compelling biological reason for maintaining this separation, as they are one species (Groves 1981). At best, the two types may have been domesticated from different races of B. taurus. They have similar karyotypes, differing slightly in Y-chromosome morphology. Taxonomic rules dictate that the first published name given to a taxonomic group has priority. Naming problems arise among species that have been domesticated. For example, Linnaeus identified common cattle as Bos taurus in 1758. Later written accounts, skins, horns, skulls, and other historical evidence were used to raise aurochs to the new species designation B. primigenius. Still later, consensus was reached that aurochs were simply the ancestral form of common cattle.
Since B. taurus was first used for the species, the name B. primigenius is invalid. For similar reasons, the author has used Bubalus bubalis, rather than B. arnee, Bos frontalis rather than B. gaurus, and Bos grunniens rather than B. mutus. Aurochs was a grazer of temperate grasslands and open forests in Europe and Asia, north of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° north) and south of the Arctic Circle (66°33 north) (Reed 1984). Southwest Asia was apparently the site of domestication, as the earliest (c. 6000–5000 B.C.) known bones of domesticated Bos taurus occur in present day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria (Harris 1967). The center of domestication was at about 35° north and 40° east. This is not at all precise, as early bone occurs from southeast Hungary (c. 47° north, 20° east) to Afghanistan (c. 37° north, 70° east); these are at least 4500 kilometers apart.

Zebu Cattle

Zebu cattle have been reared in Azerbaijan, a former republic of the USSR just north of Iran and west of the Caspian (c. 40° north, 45° east), for at least 4500 years (Verdiev 1989). Zebu types probably originated in present-day India and Pakistan (Nowak and Paradiso 1983). To put these latitudes in more familiar terms, consider that new Orleans (or Cairo), Indianapolis (or Madrid), Calgary (or Frankfurt), and Anchorage (or Helsinki) are at 30°, 40°, 50°, and 60° north, respectively. Havana (or Aswan) is at the Tropic of Cancer (c. 23.5° north). Clearly, cattle were domesticated from aurochs populations that existed far from the tropics. Zebu are better adapted to tropical areas than European types, but Herre (1958) concluded that their adaptation was acquired after domestication.
Banteng, Bos javanicus, occur in Southeast Asia, from Burma to Indonesia. For thousands of years it has been domesticated in Bali and Sumbawa, where it is known as the Bali cow. They are used for both draught and meat production. Mature, intact males are black with white markings. This sex-influenced color characteristic also occurs in kouprey, but not in other species of Bos. A recent National Academy of Science report singled out the Bali cow as a candidate for beef production in the hot-humid tropics. Compared to zebu, Bali cattle have a much higher reproductive rate and greater resistance to parasites. Yak, Bos grunniens, occur wild only in remote areas of Tibet. It has a dense haircoat and is adapted to high-altitude steppe and desert. Domestic yak are kept in mountainous areas of Central Asia, where they produce meat and milk. In some places they are used as pack animals, especially by nomadic peoples. Unique in Bos is that yak are seasonally polyestrus, with estrus expressed from June to October.
Gaur, Bos frontalis, are large wild oxen of India, Burma, Kampuchea, and the Malay Peninsula. the mithan, a domestic bovine, occurs in hills and mountains surrounding the Brahmaputra valley in India, Bhutan, and Burma (Simmons 1968). Mithan are found at elevations between 2000 and 9000 feet, and thus overlaps the ranges of both Yak and common cattle. Mithan today are more or less intermediate between Bos taurus and Bos frontalis, taking its inheritance from both, but favoring the gaur phenotype. The rarest of the genus is the kouprey, Bos sauveli, which occurs mainly in Kampuchea, although small herds may exist in Laos and Vietnam. Owing to war and human population pressure, this most primitive species of living cattle is nearly extinct. Kouprey may have been domesticated during the Khmer culture, 1200–1600 A.D. Some have speculated that kouprey are domestic in remote parts of Indochina today, but this seems unlikely.
Bos taurus is the most successful species in the genus; it exists on all continents except Antarctica. There are about 1.5 billion domestic cattle in the world. Cunningham and Syrstad (1987) discuss the present distribution of European and Zebu breeds, pointing out that the former predominate north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, while the latter predominate between the tropics. There are about 1 million Bali cattle, nearly all are in Indonesia. Domestic gaur, mithan, probably number less than 100,000. Domestic yak numbers are estimated at 1 million.

Yak

African buffalo, Syncerus caffer, have never been domesticated. Two types occur. The Cape buffalo has 52 chromosomes and is larger than the Forest or Congo buffalo, which has 54 chromosomes. The Asian buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, has many domestic breeds. Domestic buffalo number at least 130 million, and they are important milk, draught, and meat animals in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Egypt. There are two types—the river buffalo and the swamp buffalo. Swamp buffalo are generally found in Southeast Asia, whereas river buffalo are more often found in India and to the west. Swamp buffalo have 48 chromosomes; river buffalo have 50. They are interfertile, “but will interbreed only when artificially persuaded through association from calfhood to maturity” (Wurster and Benirschke 1968). Buffalo were probably domesticated in the area of India and Pakistan over 5000 years ago. They have existed in Transcaucasia since the first millennium B.C., and they reached Italy with pilgrims and crusaders returning from the Holy Land during the Middle Ages. Today buffalo are widely dispersed, being found between 40° north and 30° south. Buffalo tolerate foot and mouth disease better than cattle and are resistant to anthrax and brucellosis (Verdiev and Turabov 1989).
Three additional species of Bubalus occur in Southeast Asia. B. mindorensis, tamaraw, is found on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. B. depressicornis, lowland anoa, is confined to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. B. quarlesi, mountain anoa, inhabit highlands on the island of Sulawesi. None have been domesticated. Small isolates of wild B. bubalis occur in India. These remnant populations are threatened by genetic “swamping” by domestic and feral buffalo and by inbreeding. Currently, efforts are underway to protect these populations.
The two bison species are completely interfertile. Bos bonasus, European bison or wisent, is a success story in species conservation. It existed in the same habitat as aurochs and persisted in the wild until about 1920. Animals taken from zoos were used to restock forests in Poland and Russia, where they are now plentiful. B. bison of our western plains was also near extinction; it too is now plentiful. Whether B. bonasus is a valid species or not is purely a matter of convenience (Groves 1981). Interspecific hybrids rarely occur in nature, but there is a long history of hybrid breeding among captive populations. Gray (1972) summarized hybridization work in Bovini. Excluding Bos sauveli, calves have been produced from all crosses among the species of Bos, except between Bos bison (or B. bonasus) and Bos javanicus.
Generally, Haldane’s (1922) rule (wording modernized), “In interspecific hybrids, if only one sex is absent, rare or sterile, that sex is the heterogametic sex,” is supported by crosses among the species in Bos. Nearly always, crosses among Bos yield fertile females and sterile males.

Buffaloes

There are no reliable reports of conception in matings of Bos species to Bubalus bubalis, although matings sometimes occur. Groves (1981) phylogeny  (based on cladistic analysis of mostly skull characters) is consistent with the hybridization results. Also, chromosome numbers suggest that fertility would be extremely unlikely in crosses between Bos and buffalo. Yak x cattle crossbreds are used for production purposes in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalayas at elevations where cattle do not thrive; higher up, the pure Yak must be used. The mithan (Simmons 1968) is semidomesticated in the remote hills and mountains of the Indo-Burman border. A stable cross of cattle and banteng occurs on the island of Madura in Indonesia. Invading Indians brought zebu cattle, which interbred with the Bali ox some 15 centuries ago.

CATTLE - BEEF AND DAIRY

The phylogeny and taxonomy of beef and dairy cattle are discussed above. The development of modern beef breeds began in the 1600s in Europe and, in particular, the British Isles. Farmers in an area selected cattle of a kind they considered best for the locality. They continued to grow them consistently over a period of years, and these selections often resulted in the formation of a breed. Some breeds resulted from crosses of existing breeds; others from crosses of cattle that had not attained breed status. The most desirable animals tended to be gathered into a few herds that were bred by introducing little or no other stock. As they gained popularity, numbers increased and eventually a breed society was formed. In this way, highly useful and efficient kinds of animals were developed that survived as breeds.
A breed may be defined as a group of animals having a common origin and possessing certain well-fixed and distinctive characteristics not common to other members of the same species; these characteristics are uniformly transmitted. Some beef breeds are horned and some polled (hornless). Mutations have occurred in certain animals of several horned breeds, causing them and their descendants to be polled. In some cases, breeders developed these polled strains and established separate breeds.

Mating Systems- Used in Breeding. 

There are three general mating systems used to produce crossbred market cattle: (1) mating females of one breed to males of another breed, to produce F1 market animals; (2) terminal crossbreeding, whereby F1 females (as produced according to the first step) are mated to bulls of a third breed, to produce a three breed terminal cross, or to bulls of one of the parent breeds, to produce a backcross or (3) rotational crossbreeding, where a breed of sire is rotated each generation or at specific time intervals.

Heterosis.

Sometimes referred to as hybrid vigor, is a phenomenon that is most important in crossbreeding, but is essentially an extension of hybrid techniques used for centuries in connection with plants.

Fundamental Categories of Breeds. 

For convenience of classification, there are four fundamental categories of beef and dairy cattle. The categories, although commonly used, are not consistent because two of the categories reflect the origin of the cattle, and the other two reflect the purpose of the cattle.
1. British and continental European breeds (beef).
2. North American breeds (beef).
3. Dual-purpose (beef and dairy) breeds.
4. Dairy breeds.
The foregoing classification is not fully satisfactory for the entire world because it does not reflect the so-called exotic cattle, as found in Asia, and does not fully parallel cattle found elsewhere. Detailed descriptions of the scores of breeds are well beyond the scope of this encyclopedia, but a cross section will be given briefly.

Angus Bull

Angus Cattle. 

Principal characteristics are: (1) black, smooth-hair coat; (2) polled; (3) generally alert and vigorous; (4) produce well-marbled beef. Angus cattle are known to have existed as early as 1523 in the county of Aberdeenshire in Scotland. In this region, the breed developed in a rigorous climate and on rolling to rough land that was not particularly fertile, except in the valleys. The first Angus bulls were imported into the United States in 1883. In the American Southwest, the Angus cattle were crossbred with Texas Longhorn cattle.

Charolais Cattle.

Principal characteristics are: (1) white, or very light straw-color coat; (2) mature purebred bull weight ranges from 2000 to 2500 pounds (907 to 1134 kilograms) or more; (3) mature cow weight ranges from 1250 to 1600 pounds (567 to 725 kilograms); (4) a high rate of efficiency of growth; and (5) a high percentage of lean meat with a minimum of excess fat at a young age. In France, Charolais is one of the most important beef cattle breeds. The breed did not arrive in the United States (by way of Mexico) until 1936.

Hereford Cattle. 

Principal characteristics are: (1) white face, crest, dewlap, underline, and switch; white legs below the hocks and knees; red bodies; (2) medium-size horns; and (3) docile nature, easily handled. This breed originated in the County of Hereford in England. In 1817, Henry Clay (statesman from Kentucky) imported the first Herefords. The breed has been popular in the United States since the 1870s.

North American Beef Breeds. 

Development of beef breeds in North America has taken place mostly since the early 1900s. The Brahman was developed by combining several breeds or strains of zebu (Bos indicus) cattle of India. In other cases, new breeds have been developed from Brahman-European crossbred foundations. Principal characteristics: (1) distinctive appearance, a hump over shoulders, loose skin (dewlap) under throat, and large drooping ears; and (2) light gray color or red to almost black; prevailing color is light to medium-gray. Environmental adaptation, longevity, and mothering ability are the Brahman’s strongest traits.

Beefmaster Cattle

Beefmaster Cattle.

Principal characteristics: (1) Color is variable, with more reds and duns than other colors; and (2) most animals are horned, but polled individuals do occur. Development of this breed was commenced in 1931 in Texas. The foundation herd was developed from three breeds—the Hereford, the Shorthorn, and the Brahman.

Santa Gertrudis Cattle.

Principal features: (1) cherry red color; (2) the majority are horned, but polled individuals occur; (3) hides are loose, with surface area increased by neck folds and sheath or navel flap; and (4) hair is short and straight in warm climates, long in cold climates. Development of this breed dates back to the early 1900s on the King Ranch in Texas.

Wagyu Cattle. 

In Japan, these cattle are the source of the well-known Kobe beef. Traditionally, about 2.5 years are required to feed a Wagyu up to time of slaughter.

Dual-Purpose (Beef and Dairy) Breeds. 

Among the better-known breeds of this type the Milking Shorthorn cattle, the Red Poll cattle, the Brown Swiss cattle, and the Holstein-Friesian cattle. These breeds have reasonably good beef conformation and they are also capable of producing milk and butterfat in reasonably large quantities.

Dairy Cattle.

About 70% of the dairy cattle in the United States are grades of purebreds of six breeds—Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein-Friesian, Jersey, and Red Danish. Two of these breeds, as previously mentioned, are dual-purpose breeds.

Guernsey Cattle

Guernsey Cattle. 

This breed originated on the island of Guernsey, off the coast of England. Over 13,000 of these animals were imported into America prior to 1914. A mature cow in milk should weigh at least 1100 pounds (499 kilograms). A mature bull in breeding condition should weigh about 1700 pounds (771 kilograms). A Guernsey cow (Ideal’s Beacon’s Rosette) produced 224,800 pounds (101,080 kilograms) or 25,912 gallons (980 hectoliters) of milk; and 10,941 pounds (4963 kilograms) of butterfat in her lifetime.

Jersey Cattle.

This breed originated on the island of Jersey, off the coast of England. Jerseys were imported into the United States as early as 1800. They are a little smaller than the Guernsey cattle. A Jersey cow (Marlu Milady’s) produced 191,226 pounds (86,760 kilograms) or 22,236 gallons (842 hectoliters) of milk; and 9444 pounds (4284 kilograms) of butterfat in her lifetime.

From 'Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia. — 10th ed.- edited by Glenn D.Considine, Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, 2008, p. 770-771 & 954-956. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.